Tuesday, July 31, 2012

2. Push Press
1 set of 15-20 reps
1 set to failureYou should be reaching failure between reps 15 and 20 reps on the second set. Use the first set to determine the appropriate weight.

3. 3 Supersets of:
A. Strict Bent Over Row, 6-8 reps - Overhand grip. No torso movement up or down throughout ROM.
B. Rehab High Hang Muscle Snatch, 8-12 reps - This isn't about how much weight you can get up. Focus on the external rotation (aka "the turnover") and slight press up at the end of the movement. NO OVER EXTENSION of the midline. Watch the demo video here.

4. Clean Grip Shrugs
4 sets of 12 - Retract shoulders as you shrug. Shoulders should go up and BACK, not up and forward.

It's difficult to give broad and general nutrition recommendations beyond Greg Glassman's beautifully simplistic yet potent statement of: "Eat meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake level that will support exercise but not body fat." I don't believe any two sentences could sum up nutrition better.

Having said that, I have gotten a bunch of questions regarding nutrition and if you should be doing something different during this phase. The answer to that question is... it depends. It depends on where you are right now. So I will try and break this down for a few.

DUDESDudes under 175# and 8% body fat or less/ Chicks under 130 and 12% body fat or less:
You need to get bigger and these next two months are the time to do it. The way you do this is...wait for it... eat more. You are probably a hardgainer so you need to eat way more. If you like The Zone, prescribed blocks for guys would be 15 or 16 blocks. Over the next few months you should up this to 22-25 blocks. Prescribed Zone for girls this size would be around 12 blocks and you could up that to 16-18.
Start by eating more protein, fats and starches (sweet pots, yams, squash, etc...) and see what happens. If you still aren't gaining add a full second lunch or dinner. Still not gaining? If you tolerate dairy try adding heavy cream to a protein shake or whip heavy cream and vanilla protein powder together, add some berries and you have a super delicious, super calorie dense, low sugar dessert.

Dudes between 175 - 195# and 9-11% body fat/ Chicks between 130-150 and 12-14% body fat: This where you want to be right now, and you could compete here. It's ok if you gain 5-10 lbs over the next few months, but it doesn't need to be a goal. Instead focus on dialing in your supplements and pre/post wod nutrition. My recommendation is to fuel your wods with something like Fuel For Fire. You can play with BCAA's, Glutamine, Beta Alanine, Creatine and Whey.

Dudes over 195# and 12% body fat or more/ Chicks over 150# and 15% body fat or more: Yes, we are trying to get bigger and stronger over the next few months, but you are big enough. To compete at the highest level you don't need to be gaining more size, especially if you are already over two bills. Continue to eat clean and stay with your prescribed zone blocks.

I realize that you might not fall directly into one of these groups you might be a 205# dude with 9% body fat. I trust that you have the ability to use the above information to help you set your targets for the next few months.

These benchmarks will let you know when your metcon is back up to speed. Over the next two months we will be focusing on getting bigger and stronger. Improving your metcon will go on the back burner for a while, but these benchmarks will let you know exactly where your wind is relative to before getting huge.

Who you train with matters.
Do the athletes in your gym push you? Do they beat you in workouts?
If you don't have good training buddies - get some, or move to Natick.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

"You don't set out to build a wall. You don't set out and say, 'I am going to build the biggest badest wall that's ever been built.' You don't start there. You say, 'I'm going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.' And you do that every single day, and soon you have a wall.

You shouldn't set out with the mindset that you are going to become the biggest or the baddest competitor the CrossFit Games has ever seen. What you should be saying when you start this year's training is, "I am going to train TODAY, as best that I can." If you do that every single day, soon you will be a Competitor.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Work up to a 3 rep max - must come from a complete stop, no bouncing, no touch and go.

2. 5 RFT:

15 Dead lifts 225, 155

15 C2B Pull ups

Time to "TURN PRO."

Turning pro is the next level beyond being and amateur. One of the most powerful realizations on the journey to become a pro is the awareness of Resistance. Resistance can show up as anything from bad self-talk, to friends or family that resent your commitment, to other temptations that stall your growth as an athlete (drinking with friends, the snooze alarm, etc..)

Overcome resistance, and Turn Pro.

"A pro doesn't over identify with with their work. So if there is a failure it doesn't knock them out of the batter's box. A pro doesn't take failure personally or success personally. "

If you have a bad day of training does it carry over into the next day? A pro realizes there are good days and bad and doesn't get overly excited about either - it's all part of game.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

This programmed is based on the principals of WestSide Barbell and the methods they have used to produce the world's strongest athletes.

The months of August and September should be viewed as the "off-season" for the competitive CrossFit athlete. And similar to athletes in other sports the off-season should be primarily focused on getting stronger. Check out the "Programming Philosophy" on this site to see how I structure the entire year of training.

Some basic guidelines for this phase of training.

1. Take the rest days. You are going to grow when you are NOT in the gym.

2. Continue to do mobility.

3. If you are a beast (dudes over 205# and chicks over 145#) you should do a 2-3 mile easy run on Tuesdays.

4. If you are a smaller athlete (dudes under 165# and chicks under 120#) you can add an additional superset of bicep/tricep work on Repetition Saturday. Something like 3 rounds of: 12 barbell curls (yep, is said curls) and 12 band push downs.

5. Eat lots! Yes, this is going to be individualized and if you are a beast already it's not going to be as important. We are going to get BIG and STRONG over the next two months so it's ok to have the sweet potato fries and ketchup with dinner.

6. Accept that your metcon is not going to improve over the next two months. Don't worry it will come back. Remember, we are looking to develop a bigger can.

MONDAY

Max Effort Lower Body

1. MAX-EFFORT LIFT – work up to a max set of 1-5 reps in a squat or pull variation (off pins, box, off blocks, with chains or bands, safety bar, axle, etc...)

Friday, July 20, 2012

Ok, so I was going to keep this under wraps for another week or so, but I am just too damn excited about this and need to get it out there.

The focus of our next phase is to get strong, damn strong.

Look at the direction of CrossFit over the past few years. At the 2009 Games Annie T snatched 95# for a 1RM in the snatch event. This year at the regionals Annie snatched 155#. This year the girls had to snatch 70# for 10 with one arm. If you don't have a solid strength foundation you can't compete at the highest level.

Here is another reason why it is worth the time and effort to increase strength. Imagine your strength at this time is the size of the can on the left. This can represents the biggest potential of your fitness gains. You can fill this cup up with as many skills and techniques as you want - You have the best metcon in the sport, you can have perfect lifting technique, you can do flawless butterfly pull ups and you can rip out 200 double unders straight. But you are limited in your total potential because your skills are limited to the size of the smaller can.

Now imagine that you spend the next two months getting stronger. You now are represented by the larger can on the right. When you have more strength you have greater athletic potential as you can fit more skills and drills into the larger can.

Trust me, improve your strength and you will be a better competitor at next years games.

Time to get strong. Time to get Ha-uge!

I will post the templete for this phase in a day or two...if I can wait that long.

Competitive CrossFit athletes need to take extra care of their shoulders. We do a tremendous amount of vertical pulling and horizontal pushing, which can cause an evil internal rotation of the shoulders. If you are lacking mobility to achieve a proper overhead position you are robbing yourself of potential and spots on the leader board. No matter how much stronger you get, even if you can bench 315x5, you won't be able to Jerk or do HSPU on par with weaker athletes if you don't take the time to correct this limitation.

There are a number of different approaches (find what works best for you). Here is one quick program that you can attack everyday to improve your overhead positioning. All of these movements are stolen from Kelly's MWOD, heck it out for more ideas.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

I think it is important to understand the method behind the madness. Check out the Programming Philosophy page to get more insight into how the programming on this site is designed.

Right now you should be resting and recovering. I would prefer that you spent more time away from the gym until we start the "Get Ha-uge" program, but I know how you guys are. So instead of fighting you on it, here is what you need to do over the next two weeks. After every training session you need to spend 45 minutes on restoring your body. That can be anything from MobilityWOD, it can be yoga, it can be general stretching and foam rolling or massage or ART. I don't care so much what you are doing as long as you are doing it.

Most you you have banged up shoulders or worse yet, limited mobility in your shoulders, which will lead to a shoulder or back injury. Here is a quick and dirty test to see if you need to be working harder on your shoulder mobility. Tomorrow I will give you guys a shoulder routine that will help improve your overhead position.

"Toughness is the ability to perform at the upper limits of your talent and skill

regardless of the competitive circumstance."

I always find it difficult to summarize The Games experience in one blog post. The emotion, relationships, triumphs and defeats, the community, friends and family, the programming, the preparation, the recovery, the details and the big picture are almost too much to make sense of in a few paragraphs.

So here is a quick recap of our athletes that certainly will not do any of them justice, as they all deserve a journalist, not a strength coach, to describe their passion and performance.

TEAM

After the first two events on Friday morning the team was in 37th place. It was time to see what the character of this team really is. As John Wooden said, "Sport doesn't create character, it reveals it."

The easy thing to do would be to lay blame, pack it in and coast through the remaining events. But this team is tough and filled Champions. They finished in the top 10 in 5 of the last 6 workouts to battle back to 12th overall.

I am happy that Tommy's "Hacks Pack" won. They were the fittest team there and the deserve to take home The Cup. Congrats to CrossFit Ute!

INDIVIDUAL

The similarities between Chris's and the Team's experience were strangely similar. Chris was right were he wanted to be in the first event, 9th place after the bike and 3rd place half way through the run. Then the unfortunate hit. He experienced cramping in his lower body that turned his run into a walk and finally into a shuffle. The cramps were so bad that they left bruises. The fact that he was able to finish the final 5K, when every step and every minute was excruciatingly painful, is a testimant to his focus and determination. Chris finished the Triathlon 3rd to last and would spend the rest of the weekend battling himself out of a hole. Chris has learned a lot from his record six Games experiences and was able to turn his focus on what he could control and influence, which was recovering and preparing for the upcoming events. Battling all odds, Chris was able to make it all the way to Sunday's event and give the crowd a show as he hung with the bigger athletes in the heavy chipper wod and the double banger.

MASTERS

Lisa Mikkelson won First Place in the women's 45-50! Lisa is an amazing athlete (Master's American record holder in the 400m) and she dominated the field finishing 1st in five of the seven workouts.

Brian Curley, the former Master's Champion, and one of the best humans on the planet, finished in 9th place.

Jerry Fireman in his first games finished 14th.

I am lucky to have been surrounded by a lot of great people and athletes this past year. It is my hope that this blog will help expand the roster of Games Athletes that I coach. The only prerequisite is that you have courage, integrity and love CrossFit and your fellow competitors.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

The Games are here. Below is the programming for the week leading up to the big weekend...

Monday:
Travel/Rest - try and move around a lot while you are traveling. Bring a lacrosse ball on the plane or in the car with you. Get out of your seat every 45 minutes, stand, stretch and move. Take your shoes off and roll your feet while sitting.

Tuesday:
Back Squat, 3 rep heavy
Push Press, 1 rep heavy
Deadlfit, 5 rep heavyThe goal today is to get some weight moving. Stimulate the CNS. Get some testosterone pumping. Without over taxing the body.

The Games are 8 days away. It is time to let the last 2 months of hard training catch up. We have decreased the volume this week and will begin our full blown taper on Monday. Here is the schedule going forward till the Games.

Friday: Single

Saturday: Double

Sunday: Double

Monday: Travel/Rest

Tuesday: Single

Wednesday: Single

Thursday: Rest - If for some reason they turn the Games into a 4 day event and start on Thursday, we will be ready.